Mark Johnson

I was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Now, in my sixties, I live happily in Scottsdale, Arizona, among the saguaros and palm trees. From an early age, I found writing to be comforting and exhilarating. Since retiring in 2014 from a multi-faceted communication career, I've authored five books to pay tribute to vivid people and memories from my experiences in North Carolina, Missouri, Illinois and Arizona.

From Fertile Ground, my first book, is a three-generation memoir and writer's mosaic about love and loss. It explores the importance of family and desire we all have to create our own path. My second book, Tales of a Rollercoaster Operator, includes twenty-six indelible stories from my Missouri childhood. It was a semi-finalist in the nonfiction category of the 2017 Tucson Festival of Books Literary Awards. The Missouri Historical Society selected both books for its collection of stories related to the history of the LGBTQ community in the Midwest.

In 2018, I published my third book, An Unobstructed View. It chronicles an ironic year of surprise and transformation following an unexpected detour with my husband on the way west from Illinois to Arizona. Encompassing twelve months of tremendous personal change and flashbacks to my Chicago life, it's an inspiring story of perseverance and reflection, and a testimonial to the importance of home.

My fourth book, I Think I'll Prune the Lemon Tree, is a personal collection of thirty-nine essays set against the warm and rugged landscape of Arizona's Sonoran Desert. Published in early 2021, it's an anthology of nonfiction and fiction stories. In it, I weave universal themes: the beauty of nature; the importance of community; the need for authenticity; the realities of aging; the anxiety of uncertainty; the upheaval of a global pandemic; and the gratitude that comes from examining all of it with an open heart.

In 2023, I published my fifth book: A Path I Might Have Missed. It's a collection of forty-two poems, written over a thirty-year period (1993 to 2023). This creative and poetic odyssey I might have overlooked, but fortunately found and explored, is a stirring tribute to love, loss, pain, discovery, truth, and transformation—spun through the wonder of words and influences of nature.

To learn more about my books--and follow my blog--go to www.markjohnsonstories.com.